Chapter 973 Franz's Kindness

Compared with these common light cavalry and hussars, Austria's unique lancers performed more terrifyingly when chasing deserters.

Lancers holding 2.5-meter spears are definitely a nightmare for infantry, because bayonets pose almost no threat to them.

As for trying to withstand the damage of the spear and then fight back, that is simply a fantasy.

With the help of horse power, even a strong man like The Rock may not be able to block the impact of a thin cavalryman.

What's more, these Austrian lancers are all elites from aristocratic families who have been trained since childhood and have undergone several years of training and repeated assessments.

No matter the skills, tactics, or physical fitness, they are not comparable to ordinary soldiers. Coupled with excellent horses and sophisticated equipment, it is simply impossible to resist them in a panic.

These elite cavalrymen holding lances helped the French soldiers recall the terror of the knight.

The Austrian cavalry was frantically harvesting the broken French troops, and at the same time driving them away as much as possible so that they would trample on each other.

Human survival instinct told the fleeing French infantry that they did not need to outrun the horses, they only needed to outrun their comrades.

Driven by the desire to survive, they even pushed down their comrades fighting side by side to slow down the cavalry's pursuit.

As for people they don't know or are familiar with, they feel even less guilty.

Those who were unfortunate enough to be pushed or fell down were either trampled to death by their own people or hacked to death by the overtaking coalition cavalry.

Seeing that the situation was becoming increasingly chaotic, the French cavalry finally arrived at this time.

The cavalry of both sides were entangled, and the French infantry finally got a chance to breathe, but they still looked embarrassed when they fled.

Bono de Cullen actually sent out his best cavalry immediately, but the French cavalry was far inferior to the German Allied Forces in both quantity and quality.

No one was willing to die, so his adjutant and the supervisory team spent a lot of effort to invite these cavalry masters.

This is also thanks to the relatively "honest" French cavalry and the strict military management of Bono de Coulen. If it had been replaced by the Hungarian hussars, coupled with a few incompetent generals, I am afraid that the cavalry troops would have fled long ago. Monster.

After breaking away from the cavalry pursuit, the French infantry quickly restored order, but there was no trace of joy on Bono de Cullen's face.

Although the timely appearance of a group of brave grassroots officers and cavalry prevented the French army from being defeated, countless remains of French soldiers, broken bayonets, discarded guns, scattered flags, and lost military caps were left on the battlefield. All tell the story of the brutality of this battle.

Since the French reconnaissance hot-air balloons were killed in advance, and the French army had no way to deal with the Austrian reconnaissance hot-air balloons, the battlefield was one-way and transparent to the German allied forces.

When Franz ordered the pursuit before, there were some so-called knowledgeable people showing off in front of the ladies.

"The French army can't be that fragile! This must be a trap by the French. Maybe there will be elite French troops waiting behind the gentle slope!"

However, Franz was unmoved and did not even look at the noisy crowd.

"Why are you pretending to be cold? After all, the people who died were Austrians and it has nothing to do with us!"

The sensationalist finally caught the attention of Colonel Bordeaux. The two just looked at each other for a moment before the former looked away angrily.

Franz patted Zuoqie on the shoulder, and the latter took his thumb away from the sword.

To be honest, anti-slope tactics are nothing new. They were first used by Lafayette to deal with the British on the American continent, and were later used by the British to deal with the French in the Peninsular War.

Roughly speaking, a group of line infantry is hidden behind the slope in advance. Hiding behind the slope is to hide oneself and to avoid artillery fire.

All that's left is to wait for the opponent to get close, and then suddenly appear to catch the opponent off guard.

In theory, this is indeed a good tactic, as long as there is good enough discipline and high morale, it is indeed possible to execute it.

However, the reality is that the Austrian army's reconnaissance hot air balloon has already clearly explored the battlefield. At the same time, the retreating large group of infantry is different from the small number of skirmishers who retreated in an organized manner.

If the French army really intends to forcibly use anti-slope tactics, there is a high probability that it will fall short due to the obstruction of its own soldiers.

The battlefield was changing rapidly. Unexpectedly, the French army relied on the counterattack just now and the help of cavalry to successfully escape the allied pursuit.

Unable to completely overwhelm the French army in one breath, Franz gave the order to retreat.

"Stop the pursuit, let the troops rest where they are, and send someone to deliver the message to Bono de Cullen. I hope he can retreat with dignity, instead of the soldiers' blood continuing to be shed in vain!"

Franz's words made the herald stand in awe, and he straightened his back and gave a standard military salute.

But it made the senior coalition officials who were celebrating a little puzzled. After all, victory seemed so close.

"Archduke Franz, are you being a little too merciful in doing this?"

A senior officer of the coalition forces couldn't help but ask, which immediately attracted a chorus of responses, because he expressed the question in everyone's mind.

Franz didn't want to argue, but in order to prevent this group of losers from doing anything uncontrollable, he still gave a symbolic explanation.

"First of all, this battle dealt a big blow to the French army. Eight battalions were annihilated and a large number of cavalry were lost. The morale of the French army has been severely damaged."

Only considering the results of this battle, the elimination of nearly 10,000 French troops at one time is enough to go down in history. Of course, it can also shut up these dignitaries.

However, this battle also reminded Franz that in the era of nations, the cruelty of war has greatly increased. Many French soldiers were killed by angry allied soldiers after surrendering.

No one on the chaotic battlefield would pay attention to the reasons why the enemies were killed. In their opinion, those who invaded their land and enslaved their compatriots should die.

In order to avoid giving every enemy the courage to fight to the death, Franz must stop this meaningless killing.

In fact, there are only two ways, one is to increase the benefits of capturing prisoners, and the other is to increase the punishment for killing.

As for the so-called preferential treatment of prisoners, it is just a carrot and stick domestication policy in order to disintegrate the enemy's will, but more importantly, it is for their own people to see as an important proof of their justice.

"Secondly, after a period of pursuit, the Austrian army's range of action has exceeded the coverage of its own firepower.

Those heavy artillery are completely useless in the pursuit, and will even slow down the march."

This battle cannot afford any mistakes, so Franz must be steady. He will not be provoked by others and fight to the death.

Franz's words are reasonable, and the authority of the Austrian Empire cannot be questioned by others. The guy who thought Franz was too soft-hearted at first has changed his praises, and others will not continue to make trouble for themselves.

In addition, it is almost dark. Night battle is not a wise choice for the German coalition, which is in an absolute advantage.

Finally, Franz sincerely hopes that the French army can take the initiative to escape, preferably the kind of escape.

Both Austria and the German Confederation need to open a gap from the French at this time, but excessively weakening the French, or even making enemies with the French, is not what Franz wants to see.

On the contrary, the British would certainly be very happy to see Austria and France fighting each other to the death, with both sides suffering heavy losses.